Worst Fro-yo Shops in the Bay Area

Fro-yo girl here. Now it’s 2013 and time to update my best and worst of the Bay Area lists.I’ll start with the worst shops in the Bay Area. Like their counterparts in 2008, the worst frozen yogurt shops feature fro-yo with horrible texture and flavor. Their toppings are worse than average too (including some stale toppings). 

I’ll sometimes receive a note from the owner saying that they were having machine problems on the day that I visited. Since I’m not inclined to revisit such places, things may have improved at the shops on this list (and I hope that they have).

Fro-yo texture problems are quite common. The shops that made the list are the worst offenders at the time of my visit. It’s important to take care of frozen yogurt machines. Even good mix can be ruined by a poorly maintained frozen yogurt machine.

* YOGURT NET (1445 Foxworthy Avenue, San Jose, CA): I encountered runny, too soft frozen yogurt and limited toppings.

* 1ST TREAT YOGURT (2124 1st St., Livermore, CA): The awful frozen yogurt was clumpy, gritty, soft and filmy, not sure how the texture can be that terrible but I don’t think I want to know. The fruit toppings did not look fresh.

* FRESHENS (inside the Golden Bear Cafe, Cesar Chavez Student Center, Berkeley, CA): Old school frozen yogurt that tastes like plastic

* YOLATEA (600 Main St. Suite F, Pleasanton, CA): I can’t eat fro-yo with texture this bad: soft, runny and fluffy

* TUTTI FRUTTI CONCORD (3375 Port Chicago Highway Suite A, Concord, CA): The worst TF location, it feels like no one is maintaining the machines. All the frozen yogurt is super icy. They didn’t even have any fresh fruit toppings. A few machines were out of order.

* RUBY FROZEN YOGURT (1160 N. Capitol Ave., San Jose, CA): The frozen yogurt has too much flavor syrup and it’s too soft

* POLAR ICE (96 E. San Salvador St., San Jose, CA): Machines were out of order and the fro-yo was very fluffy

* YOGURT WALK (6601 Dublin Blvd. Ste 1., Dublin, CA): Fluffy and clumpy fro-yo, yuck. Looking at some newer pictures, it looks like their frozen yogurt texture has improved.

I’ve noticed that the worst time to visit a frozen yogurt shop is right before they close. The texture seems to be the worst at that time. However I did not visit the shops that made this list late at night.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Fro-yo and Pearl Tea

Fro-yo girl here. Recently, I posed the following question: “You're in the mood for fro-yo but there isn't any around. What do you have instead?”

The options included ice cream and gelato (which are the most similar to fro-yo), baked goods (cake, cupcakes, cookies), Asian desserts (egg puffs, boba tea) and a healthier option (smoothies). Surprisingly, boba tea was the overwhelming favorite substitute for fro-yo, capturing 58% of the votes. Gelato was a distant third with 17% of the votes. The cold desserts/snacks were more popular with readers.

At first I thought that most of my readers are Asian (and that could be true) but then why aren’t egg puffs more popular? Boba/pearl tea isn’t healthy but it is refreshing (like fro-yo). I’ve certainly seen the crowd move from Quickly on Irving St. to Tuttimelon (which prompted Quickly to come up with their own fro-yo). I’m still not sure to what extent the results are based on the Asianness of voters.

I’ve compiled a list of Bay Area shops that offer both fro-yo and boba/pearl tea. Maybe someone should create milk tea flavored fro-yo? I’ve seen (and tried) milk tea gelato.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* HELLO DESSERTS: 1698 Hostetter Rd, San Jose, CA 95131
* HONEYBERRY: 3488 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95052
* LOVE BERRY: Winston Way (Stonestown Galleria), San Francisco, CA 94132
* POCO CAFÉ: 1688 Hostetter Rd, San Jose, CA 95131
* ROCK IT SWIRL: 2810 Diamond St, San Francisco, CA 94014
* TRENDY BEAN CAFÉ: 1054 Kiely Blvd, Santa Clara, CA 95051
* TUTTIMELON: 601 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133
* YUMYGURT: 650 Central Ave Ste G, Alameda, CA 94501
* YOLATEA: 600 Main St #F, Pleasanton, CA 94566

"Comming" Soon: Yogofina Pleasanton

Fro-yo girl here. I find it sad that Yogofina misspelled Coming Soon on the banner. Spell check your sign before you place your order. The Pleasanton location looks like it could open any day now. Two guys were sitting inside when I drove by, so I didn’t stare…but I could tell that the walls were painted (bright green). It’s very close to Yolatea and Delatti.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* YOGOFINA PLEASANTON: 350 Main St., Pleasanton, CA